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# MEMORIES OF FIJI DAY IN PICTURES

Posted on October 10, 2020 4 Comments

We all have our own memories of the celebrations for Fiji Day and mine are especially vivid in the years from 2012 to 2018 when I was working in Suva on the government’s communications effort. Most of these photos I took are from Fiji Day, 2012, before the new stadium was built on the Thurston Gardens side of Albert Park and certainly before the erection of the hideous 28 storey W.G Friendship Tower that has ruined the capital’s skyline.

It beggars belief that a vista that was pretty much unchanged from the time that Kingsford Smith landed the Southern Cross in Albert Park in 1928 should have been despoiled by a building that is a blight on our beloved State Precinct. But the story behind that is for another day. Back in 2012, my obsession was to get the Crest Chicken advertisement off the top of the Tennis Club building that was marring national occasions (that worked). But the Chinese monstrosity that now looms in the background is entirely something else.

These photos – from when Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was President – are also a reminder of our servicemen and women and the loyalty and dedication they give to the nation, not only to our own national life but through their contribution to keeping vulnerable people safe in more troubled parts of the world with their UN Peacekeeping. They are again taking centre stage at the 50th anniversary parade today and we salute them and thank them for their service.

Before….
…after. Better, eh?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarTinai Tukana says

    October 10, 2020 at 10:14 am

    Happy Fiji Day 🇫🇯🇫🇯❤️❤️

    Reply
  2. AvatarEntitled says

    October 10, 2020 at 8:53 pm

    ?Quo ethnic representation in Fiji’s disciplined services? Ah! plus ca change.

    Reply
    • AvatarAjax says

      October 11, 2020 at 5:12 pm

      What difference will it make?

      Are you suggesting Indian soldiers will not follow orders from indigenous Fijian officers?

      Reply
  3. AvatarAri B says

    October 12, 2020 at 11:16 am

    Definitely looks’ better without Crest looming in the background!

    Reply

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About Grubsheet

Graham Davis
Grubsheet Feejee is the blogsite of Graham Davis, an award-winning journalist turned communications consultant who was the Fijian Government’s principal communications advisor for six years from 2012 to 2018 and continued to work on Fiji’s global climate and oceans campaign up until the end of the decade.

 

Fiji-born to missionary parents and a dual Fijian-Australian national, Graham spent four decades in the international media before returning to Fiji to work full time in 2012. He reported from many parts of the world for the BBC, ABC, SBS, the Nine and Seven Networks and Sky News and wrote for a range of newspapers and magazines in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

 

Graham launched Grubsheet Feejee in 2011 and suspended writing for it after the Fijian election of 2014, by which time he was working at the heart of government. But the website continued to attract hits as a background resource on events in Fiji in the transition back to parliamentary democracy.

 

Grubsheet relaunches in 2020 at one of the most critical times in Fijian history, with the nation reeling from the Covid-19 crisis and Frank Bainimarama’s government shouldering the twin burdens of incumbency and economic disintegration.

 

Grubsheet’s sole agenda is the national interest; the strengthening of Fiji’s ties with the democracies; upholding equal rights for all citizens; government that is genuinely transparent and free of corruption and nepotism; and upholding Fiji’s service to the world in climate and oceans advocacy and UN Peacekeeping.

 

Comments are welcome and you can contact me in the strictest confidence at grubsheetcontact@gmail.com

 

(Feejee is the original name for Fiji - a derivative of the indigenous Viti and the Tongan Fisi - and was widely used until the late 19th century)

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